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03/27/2015 |
CHASE DOWLING
READY
TO MAKE NAPA SPRING SIZZLER DEBUT |
For
Roxbury native Chase Dowling, the past few years of
his racing career have been a whirlwind. Dowling
came to Stafford as a modified rookie in 2013 and he
very nearly won the track championship with 7 wins.
Dowling followed that up by moving up to the SK
Modified® ranks last season where he again won a
race as a rookie and he finished 5th in the points
standings. Dowling was Rookie of the Year in both
seasons and the 2015 season will see him move
full-time to the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour ranks
as a teammate to Jamie Tomaino.
“We’re going to run the full season,” said Dowling.
“It’s crazy, a lot has been going on and I’ve been
going through the ranks pretty quickly and it kind
of hasn’t set in yet. But it’s a dream come true to
have an opportunity to run on the Tour, especially
for a guy like Jamie Tomaino with awesome sponsors
like S+S Asphalt Paving, Dunleavy Truck and Trailer
Repair, Family Electric, Carrigan Heating and Air
Conditioning, Spectro Oils, and Billy the Kid
helping to support us. The best way for me to learn
is from the best and most experienced drivers and
Jamie has a ton of experience and he’s won a
championship, so I’m excited to work with him and I
think we’ll have a good combination for this season.
Rookie of the Year is the goal but we’ll see how it
goes. We have good equipment and good people behind
me, so it’s all down to me. There’s some other good
rookie drivers who will be trying to win Rookie of
the Year as well so it should be interesting.”
While Dowling was racing his #57 SK Modified® last
season, he was also serving as a crew member on
Tomaino’s #99 Whelen Modified Tour ride and that
connection is what led to Dowling getting his ride
for the 2015 season.
“I was working as a crew member changing tires for
Jamie during the season and we were kind of joking
around and it ended up we started talking about it,”
said Dowling. “We talked to some other race teams
and they were all looking for a driver with
experience so everything fell in place that Jamie is
giving me the best opportunity that I can ask for
right now. The car is a brand new Troyer chassis and
I’m so excited, I can hardly contain myself. It’s
almost too much going on and it’s definitely a route
that’s going to take some time. I have to get
experience and learn how to race with the guys on
the Tour, it’s a whole new ballgame now.”
With Dowling’s 8 career wins at Stafford, he is
looking forward to not only making his NAPA Auto
Parts Spring Sizzler debut on April 25-26, but
coming back to Stafford for the other three Whelen
Modified Tour events during the 2015 season.
“Stafford is going to be fun to come back to four
times this year,” said Dowling. “I’m excited to race
at Stafford, especially since I have laps around the
track. It’s definitely a different type of racing
with the Tour car but I’m very excited to come back
to my home track. I think it will be a little bit
easier to adapt to the car at Stafford than some of
the other tracks on the schedule that I haven’t been
to yet. Hopefully I can grasp things quicker at
Stafford and we can get a good finish. There’s a lot
of competition so realistically a top-15 finish
would be good and if we could get a top-10, that
would be awesome. It’s going to take a lot of
patience. Patience is the name of the game but the
only way to figure that out is get out there and get
some experience racing with the guys. I’m going into
it with a clear head and hopefully things go well
for us.”
The NAPA Spring Sizzler will be a new challenge for
Dowling as the longest race he’s previously taken
part in was last year’s 100-lap NAPA SK 5k. Dowling
will need to have a car setup for a long run as well
as having to come to pit road during the race for
tires. Dowling will also have to time trial his way
into the starting field rather than qualifying
through heat races, but he is ready to tackle all of
those challenges.
“I’ve time trialed before but it’s still going to be
new for me with the modifieds. Qualifying is a whole
‘nother league of its own and if we could start
anywhere in the top-15, that would be good for us.
Strategy kind of plays out with what the leaders do.
We’re not going to try to outsmart anyone, we’ll
probably just do whatever the leaders do. I have all
the guys from my SK team working on the car and
they’re going to be pitting it and it’s a good group
of guys and I think everything will click nicely
this year.”
While Dowling will be focused on his Whelen Modified
Tour efforts, he still plans on running a handful of
SK Modified® races during the 2015 season.
“We’re going to run a couple of SK races this year
with most of our focus on the Tour,” said Dowling.
“We’re going to shoot to run the SK 5k race along
with a couple of races that don’t conflict with the
Tour. Hopefully we can get a couple more sponsors to
help fund the car and we can run some more SK races.
Sizzler weekend we’ll be totally focused on the Tour
car.”
Dowling will kick off his very first NAPA Spring
Sizzler experience with practice and Coors Light
Pole Qualifying on Saturday, April 25th as part of
the 44th Annual NAPA Auto Parts Spring Sizzler. The
200-lap NAPA Spring Sizzler will run on Sunday,
April 26 at approximately 3:15pm following the NAPA
Pit Party from 11am-12noon and the SK Modified® and
Late Model feature events beginning at 1pm. Tickets
for the “Greatest Race in the History of Spring” are
on sale now at the Speedway Box Office. Tickets are
priced at $38.50 for adult general admission
tickets, $5.00 for children ages 6-14, and children
ages 5 and under are admitted free of charge when
accompanied by an adult. Reserved seating is priced
at $42.00 for all ages. As always, Stafford Motor
Speedway offers free parking with overnight parking
available. All tickets are good for both Saturday
and Sunday admission. All ticket prices include 10%
CT Admission Tax.
For more information on the 44th Annual NAPA Auto
Parts Spring Sizzler, or to order tickets, contact
the Stafford Motor Speedway track office at
860-684-2783 or visit us on the web at
www.staffordspeedway.com.
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Source:
Scott Running /
Stafford Motor Speedway
Posted:
March 27, 2015 |
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